The Dow Jones Industrial Average on Wednesday afternoon briefly gave up its year-to-date gains, as Wall Street wrestled with news that Cohn is National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn has resigned from the White House. Market participants fear that Cohn's departure suggests that President Donald Trump will push forward on tariffs and on steel and aluminum imports that the key adviser has opposed. Moreover, Cohn was viewed as a chief engineer of the president's pro-business agenda. The Dow DJIA, -0.33% was down 349 points, or 1.4%, at 24,535 at its lows, pushing the average down 0.7% in the first three months of the year.

Most recently, the Dow was off 71 points, or 0.3%, at 24,813, off its worst levels of the day. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 index SPX, -0.05% was down flat at 2,726, hanging on to a 2% year-to-date return, while the Nasdaq Composite Index COMP, +0.33% was up 0.3% at 7,394, maintaining a 2018 rise of 7.1%. U.S. stocks fell to session lows as the energy sector XLE, -0.75% took a sharp turn lower at around noon.